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“I’m glad one of us thinks this is funny,” Skye muttered. “Don’t worry about me. All my hopes and dreams are just crumbling all around me.”

“I’m sorry,” Taly said, gasping between bursts of laughter. “It’s not funny. It’s not—” But she snorted, halfway doubled over as she wheezed, “Except that it is. It’s really funny, actually. And I think this may be the part where I need to tell you that I… already know.”

Chapter 22

Skye just stared. “… what?”

“I know,” Taly said again. “About the bond.” Then she threw her hands up and did a victory wiggle. “I got you!Thatwas for the lantern, asshole.”

The lantern? “Wait, from when we were kids?” He’d hung around outside her window with a lantern and convinced her it was feyrie fire. “That was just a stupid prank!”

“A prank that traumatized me for life, Em. I told you I would get you,” she said, grinning like a fiend. “And you would never see it coming! Oh, my Shards, you should’ve seen your face!”

Skye blinked, still trying to process the last thirty seconds. First, she’d been sad, then she’d been pissed. Then she’d started laughing, and now…

Now, the world was tilting.

Or maybe that was just his knees giving out. “I think I… I need to lie down a moment.”

Taly rushed forward with an“oh shit,”catching his arm and easing him down to the grass. He stretched out, blinking up at the stars, trying to make sense of it.

Taly knew about the bond.

He’d spent all this timeagonizingover how she’d react, terrified that he’d get it wrong. Not that any of it mattered in the end because she already knew!

“How long?” he croaked.

“A few months.” Taly settled beside him, unwrapping the white scarf from around her neck and tucking it beneath his head. “The ice pond was when I first started to suspect. I’d dreamed about you before, but that felt different. You weremore…present,if that makes sense? So, I started researching shared dreams, which led me to soul bonds and, I don’t know… it just felt right. I have a theory, if you want to hear it.”

Skye gave a slow nod. “Sure. Why not.”

“Okay, so, you remember my mother’s spells, right? Well, I think they were acting as a barrier. And when they broke, the two halves of the bond must’ve… snapped together. That’s when I projected. With so much time energy pouring out of me, I didn’t choose where I went. Not consciously, at least. I just ended up at the place you needed me most.”

The night in the Painted Room. When he’d been dead set on going to find her, and Ivain was determined to stop him.

She was right. He had needed her then.

Taly dragged her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes, melting into the touch. “What I didn’t know was if you’d figured it out, though Iheavilysuspected. You’re not subtle. All day, all you do is tug on it.” She pressed a hand to his mouth before he could make the obvious joke. “Don’t embarrass yourself.”

“You’re a cruel woman,” he said against her palm.

Taly laughed. “Oh, come on. It’s fun seeing you squirm. And Shards know you need a little poking.TheSkylen Emrys, heir to the great and almighty Ghislain—” She slapped at the hand that tried to wriggle into her side. “I mean, I wasn’tplanningon picking a fight to torment you—but then the opportunity just sort ofpresented itself.” She sighed, visibly satisfied. “I’m in a much better mood now. Thank you.”

He needed a moment. Not to think. Just to absorb it.

“You took something beautiful and turned it into an act of vengeance.” He shook his head, his lips curving up despite himself. “I…” He laughed, quiet and breathless. “I forget sometimes howmuchI like you.”

She grinned down at him.

“Even if you arecruel.”

Her expression softened. “I think you like that too.”

He did. Shards save him, he really did. “I was going to do this with roses, you know. Maybe a moonlit dinner. But no—you justhadto poke and prod until I spilled it.”

Taly shrugged, not even pretending to be sorry. “That’s alright. I don’t really like roses.” Picking a nearby dandelion, she held it to her nose. “How’s the head?”

“Better,” he said softly. The first moon was rising behind her, catching in her hair like spun silver. The bond settled behind his ribs. It had weight now, like something set between them. “You know, we’ll eventually have to make a decision—about whether or not to break it.”